2019 season review

[AnnieH]

...at least we didn't lose 26 games in a row.

[Ruck'n'Roll]

Except it really says hardly anything.

The ESPN and AFL's own reviews are pap - perhaps they're called re-view's because we've all viewed this bumf before?

The article at the Roar contained so much more of substance: Buddy brilliant: After one 'bad' year, Sydney's rebuild is already complete

I'd expect the current Swans team to make the finals next year, because

• It's not as if we'll get less out of the over 30's - other than JPK their input was negligible.
• Our rucks were either part-time (Sinkers) or makeshift due to injuries - surely we couldn't have another year as bad as that?
• So many of the Cygnets will or have entered or will enter the 50-100 game zone - where apparently they will start to feel like they they belong at AFL level.

So unless something calamitous happens in trading we should be able to get to 12 wins or whatever is needed next season.

[Thunder Shaker]

Those celebrating our worst ever finish (with Reid playing all games which negates other injuries) really are sadists.

I would take 2019 over 1993 any time.

I don't think anyone's celebrating this season. I suspect it's optimism for the future. Whether it's justified remains to be seen.

[barry]

15th is our lowest ever - none of the old South teams ever got lower than 12th.

Those celebrating our worst ever finish (with Reid playing all games which negates other injuries) really are sadists.

[stevoswan]

15th is our lowest ever - none of the old South teams ever got lower than 12th.

[56-14]

15th is our lowest ever - none of the old South teams ever got lower than 12th.

[Legs Akimbo]

Name any 15th ranked team with the percentage our team delivered this year
Give an example of a 15th ranked team that played “ like us “ i.e statistically and stylistically
No one as far as I can see has said it’s good but plenty have said they were satisfied with our performance and are optimistic. I suggest you join in on the optimism and leave behind the pessimism

On the other hand the culture of excuses isn't what wins premierships. That's why you don't hear it coming from the club. Some metrics were good, some not to good. Other clubs have injuries too. At the end of the year there's only one result that matters. Ladder position. I'm sure the team wanted to do better and are ruthless in their honesty about what they must do better. That is not antithetical to positivity and optimism given these are themselves traits for success. So is realism.

[Doctor]

Sam Reid played every game.

[Faunac8]

Name any 15th ranked team with the percentage our team delivered this year
Give an example of a 15th ranked team that played “ like us “ i.e statistically and stylistically
No one as far as I can see has said it’s good but plenty have said they were satisfied with our performance and are optimistic. I suggest you join in on the optimism and leave behind the pessimism

[sprite]

It's not pessimistic at all. The stats don't lie.
We finished 15th. More importantly we played like a 15th ranked team. That's a poor season. The second biggest drop behind Melbourne.

Anyone who thinks that's good is not doing the club any favours.

Some stats do lie, as they don't take into account the reason behind them.

Let's look at the stats:

Playing the youngest list in the competition: you cannot expect that they will perform like 100 game veterans.

Injuries to key players, Buddy, Sinkers, Cunningham, Haywood, Macca keeping them out for extended periods.

Buddy's output was down 9 games and 30 goals on last year due to injury.

Naismith out for the season and injuries to backup rucks.

AFL conspiracy against us (gotta love that one).

[Thunder Shaker]

It's not pessimistic at all. The stats don't lie.
We finished 15th. More importantly we played like a 15th ranked team. That's a poor season. The second biggest drop behind Melbourne.

Anyone who thinks that's good is not doing the club any favours.

I don't think anyone's praising the season, but this year's story was the cattle we could get on the park. We played a lot of kids because we had to, and we'll be the better for it.

Once this crop of cygnets are a few years older, we will be formidable.

[aardvark]

2019 was the season we had to have. The changing of the guard. I'm not expecting huge improvement next year but it will be exciting to see how we progress.

[Thunder Shaker]

Exactly......in the years before 'the good times', we would reach the finals with less frequency than we now miss them....and I expect we will be back there next season.

Not only did we make finals only rarely in those days, we went half a century without winning a single final.

[Nico]

It's not pessimistic at all. The stats don't lie.
We finished 15th. More importantly we played like a 15th ranked team. That's a poor season. The second biggest drop behind Melbourne.

Anyone who thinks that's good is not doing the club any favours.

I agree Barry. We were poor all year at keeping the ball in our forward line. Yes our transition into the forward line was substandard, but when the ball hit the ground the opposition was there waiting for it. Is that "youth" or the ability of our players or coaching. Our % was 97.7, the highest ever for a team to finish that low on the ladder so it wasn't the defence, they played manfully all season, and it could be argued that our mids did a good job getting back to assist. To me it was so frustrating that we were unable to keep the ball in our forward line, and when we did our clearance rate from stoppages was poor. Can we reverse this next season? This and our skills and decision making must improve markedly, not just natural improvement, for us to make the finals in 2020. Can Isaac Heeney finally go to super star status?

[barry]

It's not pessimistic at all. The stats don't lie.
We finished 15th. More importantly we played like a 15th ranked team. That's a poor season. The second biggest drop behind Melbourne.

Anyone who thinks that's good is not doing the club any favours.